SEALs killed in Benghazi honored in San Diego

May. 28, 2013 - 03:16PM
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Sea Cadet Andrew Culp, 13, cleans a war memorial May 27 during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, Calif. The ceremony honored Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were Navy SEALs and were killed during the attacks on the U.S. Diplomatic Compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. (Sandy Huffaker / AP)

Dorothy Woods, center, widow of Tyrone Woods, and Kate Quigley, center left, sister of Glen Doherty, participate in a Memorial Day ceremony May 27 at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla, Calif. The ceremony honored Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were Navy SEALs and were killed during the attacks on the U.S. Diplomatic Compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. (Sandy Huffaker / AP)

SAN DIEGO — Two Navy SEALs killed last year in the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, received a Memorial Day tribute at a San Diego veterans’ monument Monday, their names placed on plaques on a wall alongside other prominent veterans who died in foreign conflict.

The plaques honoring Glen Doherty, 42, and Tyrone Woods, 41, were unveiled in front of hundreds of family, friends and fellow veterans at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in La Jolla.

The two men from San Diego County — Doherty from Encinitas and Woods from Imperial Beach — were killed in the Sept 11, 2012, attack that also claimed the lives of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and information officer Sean Smith.

Doherty’s close friend and fellow SEAL Capt. Jason Ehret gave the event’s keynote address, saying neither man had any interest in an ordinary life.

“Glen and Ty were the kind of men this country is proud to produce as citizens and warriors. That fateful night in Benghazi, they did what I expect any SEAL would have done,” Doherty said in the speech, according to U-T San Diego. “They ran to the sound of gunfire. They had experienced all too well the hell of war and knew that Americans were in need of assistance.”

Ehret later added, “We should all look to live like them.”

Speakers avoided the political disputes that have arisen in the eight months since the attack, focusing instead on the life and spirit of the two honorees.

Doherty’s sister Kate Quigley said her brother loved the people of San Diego, and thanked the assembled locals for inspiring him.

“It is for those that he loved that he was always ready to give his life,” Quigley said. “Thank you for challenging him to be great, for filling his life with love and being worth his sacrifice.